use aluminum blades on steel
only to discover a few weeks
into it that their blade can now
only cut soft cheese.

If you are cutting thin
materials such as aluminum
and need specific shapes or
corners, a jigsaw can be quite
useful. The same goes here for
the blade, but also make sure
to have the material you are
cutting firmly mounted. Finally,
if you are cutting thin material
in small amounts and cannot
afford anything powered, a
hacksaw can work, just be
prepared to have tired arms.

Drilling holes in your robot
for various reasons can be
done with several different
tools, depending on your
budget. If you can spare the
cash, a drill press is a good
option; it will always stay
steady and can adjust to most
needs. However, this can end up
being a bit too expensive, so a
simple power drill with the right
bits should do just fine. If you
want good quality at a lower price,
“corded” will probably be your
choice. Cordless drills — while nice —
can be pricey due to the battery
and the mobility it gives you.

For any drills, however, you
will want to invest in a good set
of bits. This can overwhelm many
beginners, but if you narrow down
what bit sizes you will use the most,
it can reduce your costs greatly.
Also, make sure to invest in a punch
or two in order to mark your holes
properly. A drill will easily wander
on you if you haven’t punched the
hole marking first.

A tap set would be a good
investment if you want to be a bit
more advanced in your assembly
of pieces without too much of a
pocket drain. This will allow you to
thread directly into the metal itself.

For those of you with a larger
budget, a good addition to your
work space would be a mill. This
tool will allow you to make many
modifications to both the shape and

Tools are
loosely
placed on
wall racks
making
them easier
to organize.

Vises and jigs are all
placed in one secure area.

Tools arranged on wall board
keep everything nice and
centralized.

Spare and useless
bits kept in boxes
off to the side.

depth of your robot. For example,
if your bot weighs too much you
can mill out some slits from non-important pieces of metal or if you
have specific plates or patterns to
make, this tool will do the job. In
this range of tools, there are several
levels and scales to choose from, so
you’ll want to know what type of
material and work you will be doing
ahead of time. This will simplify
your choices. A simpler alternative
is hand-operated mill or you could
go the route of a computer driven
CNC mill which can do precise and
smooth work based on the design
you feed into it. To find out about a
reasonably priced CNC machine for
hobbyists, check out the December
issue of Nuts & Volts ( www.nuts
volts.com), in the Personal Robotics
column.

On the same end of the CNC
spectrum is a lathe. You can turn
down anything from a wheel to a
shaft with this machine. A skilled
operator can add threads to a shaft
as well. It is better to have a skilled
operator show you how to use a
lathe or else an accident can occur.

Once you have the space and
tools selected, it is important to

determine what the organization
of your set up will be. If you are an
organized person by nature who
always puts things back, then a
complex array of labeled drawers
will probably work fine for you.
However, most builders I know lack
this quality. However, I have found
a happy medium.

First and foremost, keep tools
of the same skill set next to each
other, along with any support
equipment such as bits or keys. (This
will greatly simplify things when you
have lost something and are madly
searching through a messy pile.)
After this, a simple set of bins or
cubbies can serve to contain things
separately. That way, you only need
to throw it back into the right pile.

Mounting boards
arranged wall to
wall, opening up
the amount of
readily available
storage space.